Someone sell me on this game, the more I read from +Sage LaTorra the more I think he’s the kinda developer I want to support. Keep in mind please that I’m normally not a huge fan of the fantasy genre to begin with. I have the PDF, but find those hard to read if I’m not passingly familiar with the book already.
Also try to keep in mind, half of my gaming group is not experienced with TTRPGs and has a hard time dealing with System Switching.
I’m on mobile so can’t type much, but Adam Koebel sells it way better anyway.
I don’t want to sell you on the game, but maybe we can all talk about it a little? I’m biased, maybe the fans can get us started.
If D&D is a car, DW is the stripped down, F1 version.
It has my favorite elements of games like Fate, that encourage RP and uses the shorthand of the the old dungeon crawling games that is steeped into the fantasy gaming mindset.
It’s a snap to plan for, a snap to run, and the community makes it shine further.
What does your group play now?
You say your group is not familiar with TTRPGs? Perfect. Dungeon World (like almost all Apocalypse Wirld-based games) is a conversation. The GM narrates the situation, and the players narrate what their characters do in response. The rules kick in when you narrate certain things, but otherwise you just keep talking back and forth. I find it is very easy for new players to grok this, because it is just a conversation. Everyone can do that.
The basic mechanics are also dead simple. When a move triggers because of something someone said, you roll 2d6 and add a small stat. On a 10+, you get a full success. On a 7-9, you get a mixed success or have to make a hard choice. On a 6-, something bad is probably going to happen, as narrated by the GM.
Dungeon World is awesome because fiction and mechanics are the same thing.
Dungeon World is super flexible, since the GM rules aren’t about simulating the reality of the world, but are about figuring out what happens next.
As the GM, you never need to pick up the dice, you simply think about what’s going on, have a quick look down your rules (which are a number of bulleted lists on one page that says things like “Put them in a spot” or “Revel an unwelcome truth” or “offer an opportunity, with or without a cost” and apply that to the situation.
The game is great for one-shots since it has a pretty low threshold for required preparation if you are good at improvisational GMing. If not, just have some notes about dangers and trouble the players may encounter, so you’ve got a stable of problems to draw upon when the characters get into trouble.
The game emphasises talking about what the characters are experiencing and doing, working out what the stakes and consequences of actions are through conversation instead of looking it up in the rules. If that idea excites you, then I can recommend giving it a go.
play Dungeon World because if you don’t then the War Gamers win.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!
seriously… it’s a fucking good time. I’d bet your lives on it.
Adam Koebel & Sage LaTorra Fair enough, I like what I have heard through local scuttlebutt, it sounds like a great platform. I just wanted to get some nitty gritty before I lay down cash for a dead tree.
Sean Milliff Eclipse Phase of course 😉 actually using the FATE core rules though because the crunch of the EP rules was a bit much for my group
Christopher Stone-Bush Good to hear that part, While I personally love crunchy rules I can also grok the easy ones too, One of my players in particular has some slight learning disability that makes D&D and OSR a pain but they are wanting some good classic fantasy.
Adrian Thoen I’ve pretty much decided I want to try it out, for sure. I think I’ve put it off too long because of some whacky assed notion that I hate fantasy (When in reality I just don’t care for D&D too much)
You say that as GM I don’t need to pick up the dice, but I wonder is there the option? I like rolling dice. My experience with Numenera and not having to roll anything left a bitter taste for some reason. Like I felt as if I was missing or forgetting something.
One question I had, just from my quick skim over the rules was why are Magic levels only odd numbered?
I very much enjoy Dungeon World, and think highly of it in a number of ways. I think it requires much less prep on the part of the GM because it leans heavily on a shared understanding of the world shaped by D&D and because the nature of the dice drives play with minimal GM input or planning. It states its principals clearly, and drives play in accordance with that. It’s rules are largely on the character sheet (and the moves handout) so there is very little book-lookup paralysis.
These are all big plusses, but none of that makes it perfect for every table. If you have further questions (or want to share what sort of thing you enjoy at your table) I imagine we’d be happy to refine the pitch (or, if appropriate, suggest an alternative).
The only dice the GM rolls in DW are for monster damage. Even then you could instead just take the average result and never need to roll dice at all. There isn’t really an option for the GM to roll dice either, as the whole system is built around the GM not rolling.
If the whole GM not rolling thing in Numenera left a bad taste in your mouth, you might have a similar issue with DW. Just a heads up.
Ryan Northcott Ha! I knew that one, bud!
If your crew digs Fate as a system, then jumping to DW won’t be a stretch. The basics of building character bonds and playing with a co-op narrative are there.
It has fast mechanics that keep you in the moment, and thus the narrative.
Awesome. Thanks to all of you for talking me
throughinto this. I’m probably going to pick up the book (because I have poor impulse control, and I like supporting good games) and give it a good read. Even if the lack of rolling dice weirds me out a little, if it’s good for my group I will use it =)Best way to sell someone on the game unfamiliar with (plus it’s a cheap pdf on drivethrurpg) is to listen to some of the actual plays & Adam has a recording now up on him hosting a game. Hearing the game if unfamiliar with it will at least give you ideas on if you will like it or not.
Overall if you like storytelling type games with the D&D setting (without all the tactical combat) and a RPG you only need the core book to play, you should like it.
Misscliks Dungeon World: skinnyghost Edition – Part 1
Thanks Darren Priddy I will check that out as soon as my ratling goes to bed 😉
As a DW GM, I don’t roll any dice at all, and I love it. If a PC suffers damage from a monster, I have that player roll the damage dice. Putting all of the tension in their hands works wonders.
I make the players roll damage they suffer, but that is a job easily done by the GM if you don’t want to put away your dice.
I initially rolled monster damage, but there’s a kind of schadenfreude in making your players roll damage that I now really enjoy. I also feel untethered, able to stand up, move about, gesture and talk with my hands.
There’s also a method for rolling loot that the GM can handle too.
Shit, if i have to I’ll just roll dice at random just to keep peeps on their toes… if they still have any. mu-ha-ha.
In my experience, having the player make those tough decisions because of their own dice rolls is pretty sweet. >;)
Ryan Northcott
Adrian Thoen is running a pbp game right now (testing another person’t site) and We’ve got three players now, maybe you’d like to join us and see how it looks, or spectate a bit?
Oh, I’d love to take a peek, but it’s late here and I am a responsible adult, I am a responsible adult, I am a responsible adult…
I had to repeat that last part to remind myself.
Oh it’s not in real time, it’s play by post, so everyone just posts an update when they can.
I think a lot of the bases of what makes DW great have been covered already. Easy to GM, conversational flow, fiction as mechanics, familiar stuff from D&D, fiction enforcing mechanics, etc…
One thing not mentioned is that creating new moves for your table is pretty dang fun. It is especially neat to write moves that enforce a trope or setting feature.
Groovy, yes please send me the bits! (PM?)
Ah, a “do I get a dead tree” question. I’ll say this much, since others have talked about the content like that matters or something 😉 — the book is a pleasure to hold and is very well laid out. Clarity of presentation is aces, and while you’ll probably barely look at the thing after reading it all the way through (running it is a very heads-up experience instead of heads-down-in-the-book) it’s an artifact that rewards ownership and remains useful to return to in between sessions.
I am also really happy I got a physical copy of the book. Not only is it nice to own and hold, and read, but it makes getting others into possibly GMing the game so much easier when you can physically hand them an object.
Adam and I are book nerds, so we knew if we were going to go dead tree we wanted it to be worth it. I’m a big fan of how the book turned out. (I also did the layout, so I know every single damn thug wrong with it that nobody else has ever noticed.)
When I got Apocalypse World, I got it print and PDF, and gave away my print copy, because I only used the PDF. So when I got DW, I only got the PDF.
It was lovely enough to drive me to buy the print book, and have never regretted that.
This whole thread just makes me ^_^
Since I’m the guy who hears about every awesome thing last, I never got to back a kickstarter or anything. I bought DW in pdf form, realised the awesome, and so I then bought the physical copy direct through IPR.
The spreads where the move is on the left and the examples (including getting it wrong) are on the right make my heart sing every time.
Fred Hicks descriptive examples have proven the absolute best way to teach Dungeon World, in my experience. I wish we’d included more of them!
Ryan Northcott It’s not rules cannon, but I do love using dice for random or semi-random results. It’s nice to disclaim decision making and get a random result, or roll on some tables. It lets me have the fun of rolling dice and tends to get everyone at the table excited.